First Previous (PART 4 Investment of Public Moneys ) Next (SCHEDULE 1 Convention on Cluster Munitions )

20 2008

Cluster Munitions And Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008

PART 5

Penalties and Miscellaneous Provisions

Provision of information.

16 .— (1) The Minister may, by notice in writing, require any person whom he or she has reason to believe has information or documents relevant to—

(a) the enforcement of Part 2 or 3 of this Act, or

(b) the compliance by the State with an obligation under Article 7 or 8 of the Cluster Munitions Convention or Article 7 or 8 of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention,

to provide the information or documents to the Minister within such period as may be specified in the notice.

(2) (a) A notice under subsection (1) shall be addressed to the person concerned by name, and may be served on or given to the person in one of the following ways:

(i) by delivering it to the person;

(ii) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case where an address for service has been furnished, at that address; or

(iii) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, to that address.

(b) For the purposes of this subsection, a company within the meaning of the Companies Acts is to be taken to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body is to be taken to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

(3) A person who—

(a) fails to comply with a requirement under subsection (1), or

(b) in response to such a requirement, knowingly or recklessly provides the Minister with information or documentation that is false or misleading in a material respect,

is guilty of an offence and is liable—

(i) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both, or

(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or both.

Penalties.

17 .— A person guilty of an offence under section 6 or 9 of this Act is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €1,000,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.

Liability for offences committed by body corporate.

18 .— (1) Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any person who, when the offence was committed, was a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of an offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished as if guilty of the offence committed by the body corporate.

(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) has effect as if “director” included a member of the body corporate.

Forfeiture.

19 .— (1) Where a person is convicted of an offence under section 6 or 9 , anything used for the purposes of, or in connection with, the commission of the offence shall be forfeited to the State and, if the thing is a cluster munition, explosive bomblet or anti-personnel mine, it shall be delivered to the Defence Forces for destruction.

(2) Where a cluster munition, explosive bomblet or anti-personnel mine is to be delivered to the Defence Forces for destruction under subsection (1), the court shall, unless it is satisfied that there are special and substantial reasons for not doing so, order the convicted person to pay the costs and expenses, measured by the court, to be incurred by the Defence Forces in relation to arranging such destruction.

(3) An order for costs and expenses under subsection (2) is in addition to and not instead of any fine or penalty the court might impose under section 17 .